(26-01-2013 06:29 PM)Chas Wrote: No, if the client really believes that life starts at conception, it is hypocritical for the client to use this argument.

So what? I never said it wasn't hypocritical. but I don't see anything in that story that says the lawyers are on trial for hypocrisy, nor the church, so what's the point?

The guy isn't suing the church to give him some holy sacrament or something. He's suing a hospital for damages and expecting a financial settlement in US legal tender. That's a secular suit for secular damage with secular consequences and requires a secular response.

Is it a black eye on the hospital and the church for taking this line of defense? Sure it is. The hypocrisy is obvious to everyone.

But that is irrelevant to the secular lawsuit.

The point of the OP was the hypocrisy.

Skepticism is not a position; it is an approach to claims.
Science is not a subject, but a method.

But I'm not surprised at the direction they took for their legal defense. Heck, the Catholic church is no stranger to hypocrisy, nor are they afraid of it, so why not win the case by whatever legal means are at their disposal, hypocrites or not?

"Whores perform the same function as priests, but far more thoroughly." - Robert A. Heinlein